Solo
by Gwydion
Summary: While looking through an old photo album with Mikey, April learns something about Raph she never knew before. Now she's determined to see it for herself, even if it means confronting him at his moodiest.


A/N: Written for the TMNT Mini Bang on tumblr. Cover art by the lovely orangeandbluecream (also on tumblr). Thanks for being such an awesome partner! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Takes place after Slash and Destroy.

**Solo**

"Man, I just can't decide! There are so many awesome choices! 'Plan 6 From Outer Space'? 'The Day the Earth Disappeared'?"

April sighed, her head resting on her hand. She sat on Michelangelo's bed watching the excited turtle dig through boxes of VHS tapes, no longer attempting to feign interest in the old movies. He'd practically pounced on her the moment she'd entered the lair, dragging her away to watch "Were-rats from Channel 6". After the recent events involving Spike - _Slash_ - Mikey didn't seem to be getting the amount of attention from his brothers that he was used to.

Understandably, Raphael had been acting a bit strange the past few days. He would fluctuate between allowing Mikey's water balloon to hit him with only a thin smile in response, to getting so upset over a simple taunt that Leo would have to jump in and hold him back. He was, in a word, moody. Generally the youngest turtle would relish the attention Raph would provide, but even he had wisely decided to try his luck with another brother for a while, forcing Raph to blow off steam in the dojo rather than at his face.

Donatello, in hopes of avoiding as many violent outbursts from his temperamental brother as possible, had reluctantly allowed Mikey into his laboratory. As his arm was still healing from the sprain he'd sustained, he had his new helper fetch various things for him, but he soon found that the clumsy turtle had a habit of breaking the item more times than not. It didn't take long before Mikey found himself banished from the lab.

"And what about Leo?" April had asked, eyeing the old movie warily.

Mikey had turned to her with a haunted look in his eyes. "I can only watch so many episodes of Space Heroes," he had replied simply, popping the first VHS tape into his VCR.

Sighing once again, April glanced about the room, trying to find something, anything that might save her from having to sit through another cheesy B movie.

"Ooh! 'The Space Turtle that Ate Tokyo'!" Mikey held up a particularly banged up tape and let out a small sigh, "They sure don't make love stories like they used to." Setting it on top of the stack of movies teetering next to him on the floor, he pulled out a now nearly empty box and pushed it to the side, ready to move on to the next batch. That's when something finally caught April's eye.

"Hey, what's this?" she asked as she stood from the bed and knelt beside Mikey. She reached down and pulled a thick, dusty binder from behind where the box of tapes had been. It was covered in various stickers and looked well worn. Wiping off the cover, she noticed the word "PHOTOS" scrawled in thick, black marker.

The young turtle's face immediately lit up. He knocked over his pile of movies as he wildly reached for the album and took it from April's grasp in awe. "It's my photo album!" he said as he held it out in front of him, "I've been looking for this for ages!" Sitting down, crossing his legs, and leaning against his bed, Mikey eagerly opened to the first page and let out a short laugh. "Man, we were so little! Look! April, look at this!"

She sat next to him as he angled the binder toward her, tugging on her shirt to make sure he had her full attention. Leaning in toward the excited turtle, she looked down curiously at the first page. It had a mere two photos, but it was enough to bring a smile to her face.

The top picture consisted of all four turtles who she guessed to be about 5 or 6 all standing in a row from oldest to youngest. Leonardo was standing up as straight and tall as possible while Raphael was sending his older brother a glare with his arms crossed. Donatello was standing a bit back from the rest as little Michelangelo on the end had his arms out wide, clearly wanting to be the center of attention. The lower picture was taken in the same room, which was what appeared to be a very small living room, much different from their current home. But rather than standing in a - mostly - straight line, all four boys had somehow managed to get into one big wrestling match.

"Aw! You guys were so cute!" she cooed, giggling as she noticed Mikey obliviously stepping on Donnie's head in the free-for-all photo.

"I know, right?" said Mikey before adding with a grin, "Especially yours truly, though."

April smirked and rolled her eyes before returning her attention to the photographs. "I don't recognize this room. Did you guys live somewhere else back then?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, when we were little, we had this three room place, and it was so tiny! We all slept in the same bed, and we didn't even have a bathroom! We just walked out into the sewers in order to - "

"Ah, thanks, Mikey. I think I got it," interrupted April before the young turtle had a chance to go into further details, a look of disgust on her face. Directing their conversation back to the photo album, she asked, "Do you have more pictures of your old home?"

"Yup, sure do!" beamed Mikey with an air of pride as he turned the page and handed her the album. As promised, the next set of photos was of exactly that. Each picture seemed to be showing off a different corner of their old lair, but it was hard to tell in some as the angle they were taken from was a bit odd. April found herself constantly turning the binder as her gaze moved from one photograph to the next, trying to figure out exactly what she was looking at and how it all fit together.

"After Sensei showed us how to use the camera, he let me borrow it, so I went around and took pictures all day," Mikey explained as April smiled knowingly, the mystery of the weird angles solved. "These are all of our old lair. See this bed?" He pointed to a photo of a lumpy, queen sized mattress covered in somewhat worn pillows and blankets. "This is where we all slept together. And this is where we ate, and next to it is where we watched movies, and then this sewer tunnel is where Sensei would train us..." April's eyes followed his hand as he pointed to each photo in turn, taking it all in silently.

Mikey motioned for her to turn the page again. This time, however, rather than more pictures of the old lair, she found herself looking at photos depicting the small family members themselves. She also noticed that some individuals seemed to be more excited about having their pictures taken than others.

"Ooh, look at Raph in that one!" said the young turtle gleefully as he pointed to a blurry close up of a very startled looking young Raphael. "He was so mad! I snuck up behind him and yelled in his ear right before taking this picture. If Leo hadn't been there, he probably would have broken the camera. And this one?" He directed her gaze to a photo of Leonardo in what appeared to be some ninja form. "Leo was always more than happy to have his photo taken, especially if he was practicing." Mikey laughed and jumped to his feet, mimicking the stance the young Leonardo stood in. "His form was so bad in this one that when he saw it, he begged me not to show Master Splinter." He went through the motions of the kata gleefully. "I got him to do my chores for a week because of this."

As the young turtle bounded onto his bed and lay on his stomach, April listened curiously as he continued to ramble on, flipping casually from page to page. While Splinter would rarely appear, most of the remaining photos were of his brothers or Mikey himself, depicting their daily lives underground. She smiled as he pointed over her shoulder at the unusual family's antics, enjoying seeing sides of them she'd never experienced before. Nowadays Donnie was practically always in his lab, and while there were certainly pictures documenting the intelligent turtle's love of science and technology, there were also some showing him playing a game with Leo or reading a comic book with Mikey. Likewise there were photos of Mikey attempting to meditate or Leo throwing a water balloon. But there was one photo in particular that especially caught her eye.

"Aw, look at Raph!" said April with a smile. She pointed to a photo of him beating happily on a little toy drum. In most of the pictures, the short tempered turtle had seemed rather irritated, likely because Mikey had instigated some sort of trouble, but this was the first one in which the young turtle seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself.

Craning his neck to look at the photo she was referring to, Mikey laughed. "Oh man, Raph loved that drum! He would play that thing all the time! Sensei would usually use that as an excuse to go find food and stuff for the lair, but we all knew he just didn't like the noise."

"I can imagine," she said with a giggle. "He seems to really be enjoying it, though."

"Before he found Spike, Raph was always happiest when he was playing that thing," he said, "so when we moved into the new lair, I asked Santa to bring him a real drum set." Jumping off of his bed once more, he placed his hands on his hips proudly and grinned.

Glancing up at her friend, April raised an eyebrow and smirked in amusement. "And did Santa bring him that drum set?" she teased.

This time it was Mikey's turn to cock an eye ridge as his arms dropped to his sides and he cast her a curious look. "Well, yeah," he said as if the answer were obvious. "It's in his room. Haven't you seen it?"

She blinked in surprise. "What? Well, no, actually. In fact, I don't think I've ever even been in his room."

Plopping back down beside her, Mikey grabbed the photo album from her grasp and flipped through the next few pages, scanning each one quickly before he let out a short, "Ah-ha!" April leaned in as he pointed to one picture in particular. There sat a slightly older Raphael behind a shiny drum set, sticks in hand, the biggest smile she'd ever seen on his face.

"See?" said Mikey. "I can't believe that even after that those guys still don't think Santa's real." April smirked, feeling it wise to let the comment slide as the young turtle rolled his eyes at the absurdity of it all.

"He sure looks like he's having fun," said April as her eyes scanned the page, finding another photo that showed Raph with a look of fierce concentration, clearly in the middle of an impromptu drum solo.

Mikey beamed as he nodded. "And he was really good, too!" he said proudly. "Well, not at first - I think he just liked hitting stuff. But Donnie found him some music with awesome drum solos, and he listened to that stuff all the time. He'd always play along with it, pretending he was part of the band. Sensei found a book for beginners for him, too, but I don't think Raph used it much. Mostly he liked to learn on his own."

The young turtle skipped ahead another few pages in the album. "Anyway, Raph got so good, that we were gonna start a band."

"A band?" April studied the new page Mikey had stopped on. It was obvious that Splinter had taken this particular set of photos, for there were all four turtles garbed in large, worn, leather jackets of various colors and styles. While Mikey's black one looked fairly normal, Donnie was wearing a brown one with a fur collar, Raph had on a white one that appeared to be straight out of the 80s, and Leo had somehow managed to get ahold of one that was bright orange. To complete the look, they all sported a pair of cheap-looking sunglasses, the rims painted to match the masks they had decided to forgo. April had to bite her lip in an attempt to keep from bursting out in laughter.

The four turtles looked to be mid-performance in most of the pictures. In the back sat Raphael behind his drum set while Michelangelo was right up front, singing into a retro, toy microphone attached to a red and white cassette recorder he held on his shoulder like an old boom box. To either side were Donatello, who sat in front of his laptop running some sort of keyboard computer program, and Leonardo, who proudly blew into a beat up trumpet.

"We were called the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'! My idea," boasted Mikey as he raised his thumb and pointed it at his chest.

"'_Teenage_ Mutant Ninja Turtles'?" questioned April as she raised an eyebrow in amusement and glanced at her friend. "What kind of teenagers are still missing baby teeth?"

The young turtle deflated slightly and mumbled, "Raph said no one would listen to us if they knew we were a bunch of 9 year olds."

She rolled her eyes and smirked before turning her attention back to the photos. "So, did you guys practice often?"

"Mostly it was me and Raph," said Mikey, "To tell you the truth, Leo and Donnie weren't very good. So when I wrote our songs, I made sure to keep their parts pretty simple."

"Wait, you wrote your own songs?" said April, her head shooting back up. She wasn't sure why she hadn't seen it coming, but this she just had to hear. Luckily for her, the energetic turtle was more than eager to indulge her.

"Of course!" The photo album fell to the floor as Mikey jumped up and raised his arms above his head excitedly. April leaned away cautiously in an attempt to avoid getting smacked in the face.

"Man, I had so many ideas!" he chattered on, "The first one I came up with was gonna be our title track. It was a rock song with this totally awesome beat to it."

Suddenly striking a pose, he brought his hand up to his face as if it were holding a microphone and broke into song. "'We're the world's most fearsome fighting team! We're hero-o-o-o-oes in a half shell, and we're green! When the evil bad guys attack, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtl-l-l-l-les - fight back! Teenage. Mutant. Ninja. Turtles. Turtle Powe-e-e-e-er!'" He leaned back, belting out the final note as if he were singing for the outer throngs of a great crowd of people rather than a captive audience of one.

April stifled a laugh as the young turtle gave a bow. "Wow, Mikey," she said, the corners of her lips twitching upwards, "That was... really something."

"That was just the first one," he said with a grin as he straightened back up. "I also wrote a song all about 'Turtle Power'. Raph made me refer to him as the leader, but I always planned to say my name instead when we performed it. Guess it'd have to be Leo now... Oh! And then there was the one we were saving especially for concerts where we were going to introduce ourselves and what we do best."

Without warning, Mikey again pretended to hold a microphone, this time thrusting his other hand into the air, pointing toward the ceiling. "'Turtles count it off!'" he shouted before barreling straight into his next performance.

With a smile, April listened politely, and when at last he had reached the end of his solo, Mikey continued to describe even more of their unique ideas without skipping a beat. "Leo once tried coming up with something, and it was all, 'Na-na-na-na-ninja, Ninja, Ninja Turtles!' Nobody liked it but him. And then we thought about having themed albums. I mean, every awesome band has a Christmas album!

"Ooh! But I haven't even mentioned my favorite song yet! Raph didn't like it as much; it was a rap song, and he preferred rock, but I always thought it'd be cool to be a rapper. And it had this really awesome part in the middle that was all, 'Go ninja, go ninja, go! Go ninja, go ninja, go!'"

As he continued to chant, Mikey pumped a fist in the air, switched to his opposite hand, and then repeated the cycle, bouncing and swaying back and forth as he did so. When he brought his fists down and began rolling them around each other in front of his chest, April could only assume that he had actually gone so far as to make choreography for this particular song. Just as the realization occurred to her, she suddenly felt him reach down and grab her by the arm, pulling her to her feet. She stumbled slightly but quickly regained her balance.

"Come on," encouraged Mikey as he again started pumping his fists in the air, "Like this! 'Go ninja, go ninja, go!'"

With a laugh, April gave in and enthusiastically threw her fist above her head. Doing her best to keep up with the energetic turtle, she was quickly chanting and dancing right along side of him. As soon as she had really gotten the hang of the simple motions, however, Mikey mixed it up by skipping side to side with one leg out and then the other. She attempted to mimic the new move, but he suddenly began chanting simply "'Go!'" over and over again while doing pelvic thrusts before spinning around and ending with his arms crossed over his chest.

Her cheeks flushed from the sudden exertion, April plopped down on the bed, clapping and giggling as Mikey gave an over-exaggerated bow. Regaining her composure, she looked at her friend thoughtfully. "It sounds like you guys were really into the whole band idea. But if this is the first I'm hearing about it, I guess you kind of gave up on it, huh? Why'd you quit?"

Straightening back up, the smile on Mikey's face faded. "Raph's the one who quit," he said with a pout, folding his arms with a huff.

"But, why?" she pressed. A part of her wasn't surprised; it wasn't exactly hard to imagine the temperamental turtle suddenly finding the songs and costumes too childish as he got older. But she had known him for months and was only just now finding out he even had a drum set. This forced her to believe that he had not only stopped playing in the band but playing the drums period, and what she couldn't understand was why he would give up on something that seemed to make him so happy.

Mikey shrugged. "He found Spike about a year after we came up with the idea; said he didn't like all the noise. But I don't buy it. If you ask me, I think he - OW!"

April jumped slightly at the outburst as Mikey, who was clutching his head, whirled around to confront his attacker. She could see the color in the young turtle's face drain, however, as his blue eyes fell upon Raphael standing in his bedroom doorway, tight fists at his sides and a dark scowl dragging down the corners of his mouth.

"I think you should shut your mouth and mind your own business," said Raph darkly as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Raph!" Mikey exclaimed as he took a step back while laughing nervously, raising his hands up in front of him defensively. "I thought you were still working out in the dojo."

"I was, but then I heard that noise you call 'singing' and remembered how much more fun it is to hit you," he growled, his usual snarky tone no where to be found. The muscular turtle's eyes narrowed as he uncrossed his arms and began cracking his knuckles menacingly, earning an anxious squeak from his younger sibling.

Before the situation could escalate, April quickly jumped to her feet and took a step in front of Michelangelo. "So, Raph, I hear you play the drums!"

The older turtle appeared to be slightly taken off guard as she spoke. He stared at her as if he had only just noticed that she was even there, but he quickly regained his composure, and after a brief pause, he corrected her.

"Used to," he said flatly. With an icy glance at his brother, who shrank behind his human shield, gripping her shoulder tightly, Raph turned and stomped back out of the bedroom.

Letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, April watched as he disappeared from sight. She couldn't help but wonder at how little she actually knew about the volatile turtle, especially after learning so much simply by looking through Mikey's photo album. It wasn't like she avoided him - at least, not on purpose, anyway. Whenever she visited the underground lair, she somehow always found her attention being pulled elsewhere. Usually it was Donnie convincing her to help out in his lab, but sometimes it was Leo eager to help with her training or Mikey just wanting someone to hang out with. Thinking back, she couldn't recall a single instance where Raph had approached her, seeking out her company.

She frowned at the realization, a bit annoyed with herself for not seeing it sooner. Of course Raph wasn't going to simply come to her. He was far less trusting than his brothers, and she had never taken the initiative to try and build that trust. Well, now was her chance.

After seeing how happy Raph had been in the photographs, she couldn't help but be curious about the real reason he had decided to stop playing. The fact that he had cut Mikey off before the young turtle could explain his own theory made her even more interested in finding out the truth. And even if she couldn't convince him to open up to her, maybe she could at least lay the foundation for a closer friendship. Making up her mind, she shook off Mikey's grip and headed for the door.

"Hey! April, where are you going?" asked Mikey, "We still have, like, half the album left! Don't you wanna hear about when Donnie tried to make a rocket powered skateboard? Or the time we TP-ed the lair? Or -"

"Wait, why would you...?" Cutting the young turtle off, April stopped in the doorway and looked back at him curiously before shaking her head. "Nevermind. Why don't you watch one of your movies until I get back? Then we can finish looking through the album together, ok?"

Without waiting for a response, she turned back around and ran to catch up with Raph who was already entering his own room. Reaching the bedroom right as he was about to shut the door behind him, she put her hand out in order to keep him from closing it in her face. The annoyed turtle growled and glanced behind him as he realized that something, or someone, was blocking the doorway.

"Hey, Raph?" said April sweetly as she clasped her hands behind her back and smiled at him. He merely eyed her warily, remaining silent. Realizing she wasn't about to get a verbal response any time soon, she cleared her throat, trying to come up with an excuse that would get her into his room. "So, uh, I was, uh... I was just wondering if I could see your drum set! Mikey said you still had it, and I was always interested in playing the drums myself, so I thought maybe I could see yours." Batting her eyes, she rocked forward onto her toes, leaning in toward Raphael expectantly.

Raph took a step back, shooting a quick glance over his shoulder. He didn't look like he quite believed her, but she got the feeling that he wasn't entirely sure of how to deal with the situation at hand. After all, they'd barely even held a conversation before now, and suddenly she was asking to invade his private space. But after only a brief pause, he let out a short sigh and pulled the door open wider, stepping aside so she could enter the room.

As she strolled past the surly turtle, April glanced around curiously. She wasn't too surprised to find a small crate with a pillow inside next to Raph's bed despite the fact that it's former occupant would no longer fit in it. She was, however, more than a little intrigued as to how the most short-tempered turtle had apparently been the one to inherit the missile launcher from a previous mission. Eyeing the corner suspiciously, she fought back the urge to ask as she currently had another mystery to solve. She'd have to save that question for another time.

Tearing her gaze away from the weapon, her eyes wandered over the rest of the room - walls lined with posters from old martial arts movies, piles of various magazines and comic books, tiger print sheets on the bed, a glowing jack-o'-lantern, and more cans of bug spray than she could count - before she at last turned her attention toward the drum set off to her right. The four piece kit was a dull red and looked well worn. It had clearly gotten a lot of use at one time, but as she inspected it more closely, she noticed a rather thick layer of dust blanketing the set from years of neglect.

"Wow, cool!" said April as she walked up to it. Wiping a finger along the surface of one of the cymbals, she drew a thin line in the dust. She glanced back at Raph who had shut the door behind her and now lingered awkwardly near the exit as if contemplating an escape. "I hear Santa got it for you," she added with a smirk in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Crossing his arms, he rolled his eyes in irritation. "It wasn't from 'Santa'," he growled, "It was from Splinter. Santa's not real."

"Well someone oughta tell Mikey that," she replied, ignoring the harsh tone. As she continued to walk around the instrument, she noticed that something was missing. "You do still have the drum sticks, don't you?" she asked as she stepped over some empty pizza boxes on her way toward the stool. Upon reaching it, she gently brushed it off, whipping up a small cloud of dust, and sat down.

Without so much as a nod, Raph trudged over to a large, metal locker and yanked it open. He fumbled around inside of it for a moment before finally pulling out a well used pair of drum sticks. Closing the locker with a harsh clang, he shuffled toward the drum set and held them out for her.

"Is it ok if I give it a try?" asked April as she took the sticks, staring up at him with eager eyes. While she had needed an excuse to convince Raph to allow her into his room, she had to admit that now that she was sitting behind the drum set, sticks in hand, she was actually pretty excited.

"Yeah, yeah," he said as he waved off her pleading gaze. "Just don't break anything, ok?" Turning away from her, Raph snapped up a magazine off of the top of a random pile on the floor and laid down on his bed. His eyes dully scanned the page as he flipped it open, seemingly intent on ignoring the redhead altogether.

But April hadn't come here to be ignored. Determined to keep his attention, she raised her hands high above her head and brought the drum sticks down on the larger cymbal with a loud crash. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Raph jump slightly, and she tried to hide her smirk as she continued to abuse the old drum set, sending dust flying into the air. Her foot smashed the pedal of the bass drum as she made sure to strike every piece of the kit without rhyme or rhythm. The noise was obnoxiously loud, and she hadn't even gone on for a full minute before Raph suddenly slammed down his magazine and jumped off of his bed, grabbing her right arm before it could smash into the floor tom. Doing her best to act surprised at the sudden interruption, April looked up at him curiously.

"If you're gonna just wail on them like that," he snapped, "At least hold the sticks the right way." He snatched one of them from her and held it in his own. The stick laid between his middle finger and thumb while his pinkie curled lightly around the shaft about two thirds of the way down. "Here. Hold it like this."

April gripped her own stick in the center with both her index and middle fingers as she pretended to mimic Raph's three-fingered example. She looked up at him with an innocent smile. "Like this?" she asked sweetly.

He groaned in response. "No! Like this." Tucking his drum stick under his arm, he reached over and took her hand, moving it down closer to the butt of the stick. Despite his harsh tone, his touch was surprisingly gentle as he guided her fingers until only her index finger and thumb were left supporting the stick. "Hold it right here with just these two fingers. You have to grip the sweet spot so you get the best rebound. And don't hold it too tight. Keep it loose."

April nodded, listening intently. "Got it," she said as he handed the other stick back to her. Making sure she was now holding them both properly, she again started pounding the old drum set without restraint. She tried to hide a grin as she caught a glimpse of the grimace contorting Raph's face as she persisted in her quest to make as much noise as possible. It wasn't long before his patience ran out, this time reaching out to stop both of her arms.

"Here, just - just stop for a sec," he said, grabbing the sticks from her hands. Clenching his jaw, he shuffled around the drums until he was standing directly next to her. "Why don't you try this?"

Leaning over April's shoulder, Raph put his foot on the bass pedal, his right hand above the hi-hat, and his left above the snare. She watched closely as he began to play a simple drum beat, keeping a steady rhythm on the hi-hat while alternating between hitting the bass and snare drums. After repeating it a few times, he stopped and handed the sticks back once more.

"Try that," he said as he backed away to give her more space.

"Right," she said, "No problem." April plastered a look of fierce concentration on her face, even going so far as to stick out her tongue in order to really sell it. Positioning her hands and feet exactly the way Raph had, she struck all three parts of the drum at once and continued to keep the beat with both the bass and hi-hat, hitting the snare only on occasion.

"Ok, enough! Just stop," interrupted the annoyed turtle as he again reclaimed his drum sticks. Sliding up next to her, he again replayed the beat, looping it as he tried to talk her through it. "Like this. One and two and three and four and. Bass on one and three; snare on two and four. Bass, snare, bass, snare. Only the hi-hat keeps the beat. Alright?"

"Only the hi-hat keeps the beat," echoed April, "Ok, I can do this."

Her supposed ineptitude had forced him to intervene, but if she wanted to keep Raph's attention, not to mention not get kicked out of his room, she would have to take it more seriously from now on. She doubted he'd remain interested in trying to teach someone who couldn't even grasp the most basic of drum beats.

Sticks in hand, she repositioned herself and took a deep breath before diving in. This time she started with just the hi-hat, counting softly to herself as she tapped it. She soon began to add in the snare, hitting it on two and four like she'd been taught, before at last completing the beat with the bass on one and three. While she would occasionally hit something on the wrong count, she kept at it, not stopping until she had managed to repeat the phrase several times correctly.

April beamed up at Raph with a bright smile. "Hey, I got it!"

"Yeah, well, don't get too excited," he said, though she was sure she could see the slightest hint of pride on her teacher's face. "That's one of the first things every drummer learns. It's not exactly hard."

"Well, why don't you show me something harder?" asked April innocently.

"Harder?" said Raph. He crossed his arms and stared at her dubiously. "You want something harder? You barely got the hang of that one."

"I can handle it," she said enthusiastically, "Come on. Show me what you've got." She could only hope that Raphael would take the bait as she held the drum sticks out to him expectantly.

April sat patiently while he eyed her warily, but he soon snatched the offered sticks from her nonetheless. Without a word, she jumped up from the stool and moved out from behind the drum set, allowing Raph to take her place. She stood by quietly, looking on as he seemed to be getting his bearings again after years of disuse. Raph ran his fingers along the dusty rim of the bass, and after briefly squirming on the stool, the anxious turtle at last stilled.

For a brief moment April wondered if he was having second thoughts, but she soon noticed that he was lightly nodding his head to a beat that only he could hear. She watched as he brought up his right hand and started to tap the hi-hat, and after four successive hits, he readied his left hand and began to play.

The solo started out softer than she had expected. The rhythms sounded relatively simple and straight forward, but every once in a while Raph would mix it up with something surprising. Then the volume began to rise. His hits came down harder while quickly becoming more frantic. The same controlled, steady beat lay underneath, but above it, the turtle's large hands danced across the four piece drum set.

April stared in awe as the solo grew more and more intricate. Tearing her eyes away from his swiftly moving hands, she glanced up at his face. A smile crept across her lips as Raph's green eyes which were once sharp and serious suddenly felt alive and full of a passion she'd never seen from him before. There was no doubt he was enjoying himself, and April found it impossible to not get caught up in it as well. She tapped her foot subconsciously as she returned her focus to the drums.

After a few short minutes, she could feel Raph building to a finale. As the sound of the drums and cymbals swirled around her, she held her breath and took it all in, and when at last the solo ended with a loud crash, she could merely stand there grinning. It left her feeling exhilarated, due to both the exciting music and the fact that Raph had allowed her to hear it.

There was a brief pause as the ringing of the cymbals died out before April began clapping enthusiastically. "Wow, Raph!" she exclaimed, "That sounded great! I can't believe it's been, what, six years since you last played?"

"Five," he corrected, "And that was actually kind of a mess." She couldn't help but smirk, however, as despite the admission, he still seemed rather pleased with himself.

"Well it didn't sound like a mess to me," she said.

Seeing the satisfied look on his face, April couldn't help but feel that perhaps this might be her best chance at getting the usually closed off turtle to open up to her. Catching his gaze, she finally decided it was best to simply jump right in.

"So, Mikey said that you told him you quit because of Spike," she said casually, trying to ignore how Raph stiffened at the mention of his former pet. "But seeing how happy you looked in those photos - how much fun you seemed to be having just now - I don't buy it. You would have found some way to keep practicing if that was all that was stopping you."

Raph was no longer looking at her when she at last dared to ask the question she had been so determined to find the answer to, "So why did you _really _give it up?"

Silence hung in the air for a moment before his eyes met hers once more, the fire they had held only moments ago already replaced by an icy stare. "It's not important," he said firmly, placing the drum sticks down on the snare drum with a short bang.

"'Not important'?" repeated April in disbelief, hands on her hips, "Raph, if you could have seen the look on your face when you were playing just now, there's no way you could honestly tell me that this was 'not important' to you. You wouldn't just stop doing it. There was a reason."

"Look, it's none of your business, alright?" growled Raph as he abruptly stood from the stool and stomped in front of her. His eyes narrowed as he leaned in closer, pointing an accusing finger at her chest. "You didn't even know I had a drum set until now, so clearly I was getting along just fine without it!"

April didn't even blink, refusing to back down from the defensive turtle's intimidation. "Oh yeah?" she said as she crossed her arms, returning the glare, "Well if it's so unimportant, why can't you just tell me?"

"Because," he stammered as if caught off guard by the question before mimicking her defiant stance, "Because you wouldn't understand!"

"Why wouldn't I understand?" she pushed, "Because I'm not a drummer?"

"Because you're a human!" he blurted out.

April could tell by the way Raph's mouth instantly snapped shut that this was the opening she had been waiting for. "What does me being human have to do with it?" she asked, lowering her tone and unfolding her arms.

Raphael glared at her. It was obvious he'd already given away more than he'd meant to and was now desperately trying to think of a way to put an end to the conversation. With his mouth tightly sealed, he huffed through his nostrils, his gaze darting back and forth between her and the door. April had a feeling he would have bolted by now had this not been his room to begin with. Not wanting to even give him the option, she took a step to the right, standing directly between the fuming turtle and his only means of escape, much to his chagrin. Once she had regained his full attention, her expression softened.

"Tell me," she prodded gently.

He stared at her stubbornly a moment longer before at last closing his eyes with a sigh of defeat. Dropping his arms to his sides, he glanced back at her sullenly. "Look, you know how Mikey gets when he's got an idea in his head," he muttered, "He just won't shut up about it and runs around being all excited, and sometimes it's easy to get caught up in that."

Suppressing a smirk, April recalled how the youngest turtle had been bouncing around his room only a short while ago when she had first found the photo album that led to all this. Remaining silent, she nodded in understanding, allowing Raph to speak at his own pace without interruption.

"When he first came up with the idea of starting a band, I thought he was nuts," he continued, "I thought it was a stupid idea, and I wished that he'd just shut up about it. But he would talk about it all the time, and the more he got into it - the more he actually planned it - it... kinda grew on me," he reluctantly admitted, his harsh gaze finally softening.

"We were kids. Sensei's been telling us our whole lives to stay away from humans, that they wouldn't understand us. But every time Mikey came up with a new song or some ridiculous outfit, I just kind of pretended that it wasn't true."

"So what changed that?" asked April.

He quickly glanced back at the closed door behind her before his eyes locked with hers. They narrowed slightly as if studying her closely, and she fought down the urge to squirm under the sudden scrutiny.

"You can't breathe a word of this to anyone, got it?" he said finally, lowering his voice, "It was the night I saved Spike."

April blinked and looked at him curiously. "Saved? I thought you just found him in a tunnel around the lair?"

"Yeah. Because that's what I told everybody," Raph admitted plainly, "I don't think Master Splinter would've been too happy if he knew I was actually up on the street beating up a couple of teenagers."

"Wait, you were doing what?" While she knew she shouldn't have been surprised, this was the last thing April had expected to hear. His brothers had all told her the story about how they had met her on their first ever trip up to the surface multiple times. She had never heard it from Raph but had always assumed it was because she wasn't as close with him as she was with Donnie, Leo, and Mikey. The fact that he was hitting someone while up there, on the other hand, wasn't surprising in the least.

"I snuck out one night after everyone else was asleep. I thought if we were going to do the whole band thing, Mikey should have a real microphone, ya know? Not that beat up, old toy Sensei got us when we were four," he said, ignoring the sappy grin on April's face at the confession, "I was staying out of sight, but then I saw these two kids sneaking around. They had some kind of firecrackers or something and were taping one to this little turtle. I jumped in before they could light it and knocked a little sense into them. Scared the heck out of them, too, apparently, 'cause they took off, calling me a monster and a freak."

He crossed his arms, pausing briefly before continuing. "I knew that Sensei had been right all along, and if humans cared so little about one helpless, ordinary turtle, there's no way they'd ever accept any of the mutated ninja variety. So I took Spike home and gave up on the band idea. I just didn't feel like playing anymore because a band like ours would never have an audience."

As Raph looked away, clearly having opened up about his feelings more than enough for one day, April couldn't help but feel for him. She had gotten so used to being around giant, talking turtles that she often forgot the sort of reactions they could elicit from the general public. But even beyond that, from the first time they'd met she'd known them as ninjas. Of course they had other hobbies and interests, but aside from Donnie who seemed far more interested in science and technology than who's butt he could kick, she'd never really considered that they'd ever want to be anything other than warriors, Raph especially.

Now that she thought about it, if all four brothers had been human, and raised as humans from the beginning, what would they be doing right now? Probably not roaming the streets at night fighting Foot soldiers and Kraang droids, that's for sure. They'd be normal teenagers, possible classmates of hers even. Playing on the football team or in the marching band, chasing cute girls, forgetting to study for the big geometry test...

April always took things like going to school and walking around in the daylight for granted, but hearing Raph talk about the dreams he knew he'd never fulfill struck her harder than if he'd actually punched her in the face. He was right, of course. People weren't about to just start accepting mutants into the folds of society. He'd never know the feeling of sitting on a bright stage, hearing hundreds if not thousands of people cheering him on as he ripped into a killer drum solo. The thought was sobering, but there was, perhaps, at least something she could do for him.

"You know," she said slowly, "the internet's a pretty amazing thing. I could get you guys some recording equipment, and we could set up a little studio here in the sewers. We could put your songs online. No one would ever have to know you guys are mutants." She giggled lightly before adding, "Although some of Mikey's lyrics might be kind of a giveaway."

Raph gave her a half-hearted smirk. "Thanks," he said somewhat bitterly, "but somehow playing for a bunch of computers isn't exactly the same as playing for a live audience."

"I don't count as a live audience?" she teased, putting her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow playfully.

Somewhat taken aback, Raph blinked and looked at her dumbly before an amused grin spread across his face. "No offense, April, but that's not exactly what I had in mind," he said without a trace of malice, hesitating only slightly before adding, "But... I suppose it could be a start."

"DOES THIS MEAN WE'RE GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER!?"

The two jumped in surprise, eyes wide as their heads whirled around toward the closed door Michelangelo's muffled yell had sounded from. As the realization of his brother's eavesdropping dawned on him, April saw Raph's eyes narrow.

"You know, I heard that beating on drums is even more fun than beating on siblings," she said as nonchalantly as possible, hoping to spare the young turtle from his brother's wrath. But as Raphael turned his gaze back to her, she was relieved to find a good-natured smirk already on his face rather than the cold, unforgiving stare he'd been wearing the last few days.

"You think so, huh?" he said, cracking his knuckles. Stepping around her, he calmly walked over to the door and threw it open. Mikey's startled yelp was quickly replaced by exaggerated cries for help as Raph had apparently decided to test her theory. It would seem that now Mikey was going to make her wait before they could return to the old photo album together.

Satisfied with the progress she'd made toward getting to know Raph better, April smiled to herself as she picked a drum stick up off of the snare. Holding it exactly as she'd been taught, she gave the hi-hat a light tap.

"Well, that's what I heard, anyway," she said as she carefully put the stick back and headed out toward the youngest turtle's room, reveling in the sounds of the brotherly brawl coming from the common area. "Now, let's see if I can find the pictures of that rocket powered skate board..."

* * *

><p>AN: Had the idea for this story quite a while ago, but I never really thought about going at it seriously until the TMNT Mini Bang was suggested. I only had two other fic ideas at the time, and they were both going to be super long. Since there was a time limit, I wanted to tackle something a bit more manageable. I've never really written April before (not seriously, anyway), so it was fun working with her for the first time.

As always, critics and grammar police appreciated! Thanks for reading!


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